treacy



(No Model.)

I 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.. P. H. TREAOY.

SWITCH AND SIGNAL MECHANISM.

No. 369,823. Patented Sept. 13, 1887'.

(No Model.) 2 sheets Sheet 2.

F. H. TREAGY.

SWITCH AND SIGNAL MECHANISM.

Patented Sept. 13, 1887.

8141) awn 5oz 13 i the no 0 a N FETEfls. Phnm-Lilhugmpher, Washington.nvc

part of this specification.

signals either simultaneously or consecutively;

Nrrnn STATES tries.

PATENT FRANK H. TREACY, OF POUGHKEEPSIE, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES H. SWIFT, OF

- AMENIA, AND EDWIN THORNE, OF MILLBROOK, NEW YORK.

SWITCH AND SIGNAL MECHANISM.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 369,823, datedSeptember 13, 1887.

Application filed March 1, 1887.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK H. TREAOY, of Poughkeepsie, in the county ofDutchess and State of New York, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Switch and Signal Mechanism; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, which will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon,which form My invention relates to combined mechanism for operatingswitches, locking devices,and

and its object is to simplify the construction, lncrease the accuracyand certainty of operatron, and consequently lessen the danger ofaccidents.

My invention consists of the combination, in a suitable mechanism,ofmeans for shifting the switch, of a compensating device allowing anexcess of movement in certain parts, a locking mechanism, adetector-bar, and a pair of signaling devices connected with said parts,and an lntermediate mechanism between said signaling devices and theoperating parts aforesaid, whereby the signals will be moved only eitherbefore or after the switch has been shifted.

My invention also consists in the combination,with the operating partsof a switch mechanism,of the movable rails, and a pair ofsemaphore-blades,with a compensating locking de vice between saidoperating parts and rails and another compensating device between saidoperating parts and said blades, the whole combined and arrangedin sucha manner that when the rails are being moved the blades will remain atrest in a position to indicate danger, and will not move to safety untilafter the rails have been moved and locked.

My invention also consists in certain other combinations andarrangements of parts, as hereinafter described, and particularlypointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure lis a plan View of asection of track, showing a switch provided with my improved Serial No.229,316. (No model.)

shifting, locking, and signaling devices, all the parts being in theposition they would occupy when the shifting of the switch has been halfaccomplished. Fig. 2 is a side elevation showing the detector-bar. Fig.2 is a detached 5 5 view, and Fig. 2 is a detached detail, of myinvention. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, S, 9, 10, 11, 12,

and 13 illustrate the signaling devices.

point (not shown) to the lever of, which is ful crumed to a base-platefastened to a tie C.

At its outer end the lever is provided with a lug, a, which may, ifdesired, be provided with one or more anti-friction rollers, while theother end of the lever may extend beyond the fulcrum, as shown. Pivotedto the baseplate at a point a little in front of the fulcrum of lever ais a double-faced and centrallynotched cam, a. The construction of thiscam and its operation in connection with lever a have been fully setforth and specifically claimed in my application filed December 10,1886, Serial No. 221,218, and need not be here described in detail.Briefly stated, it may be said that when the lever a." is moved the luga engages with the notch a in the center of the cam a, and turns the camupon its pivot; but, as the lever is pivoted eccentrically to the cam,the radius of the are described by the 0 lug a is greater than thatdescribed by the notch in the cam. The lug therefore soon leaves thenotch and glides along one of the curved faces of the cam, which extendeach way from the notch. The curvature of these faces come 5 sponds withthe are described by the lug a, so that the movement of the lug after itleaves the notch does not turn the cam any farther; but it does preventthe cam from turning back again. The cam will thus be turned a predercotermined distance and no more, irrespective of the excess of travel ofthe lug a and thus constitute a compensating locking movement which hasafixed range of oscillation from one prdetermined point to another.Moreover, the actuation of the cam is accomplished in acomparatively-short interval, and while the lug a is traversing a shortportion of its are.

To the cam a is pivoted one end of a short link connecting it with theswitch-bar a The extent of oscillation of the cam is -of course soarranged as to-be just sufficient to shift the switch-bar a and themovable rails B from one position of the switch to the other.

It will be seen that when one of the rails 13 has been brought againstthe adjacent. rail, A, the switch will be locked by the movement a a aa, since the lug a prevents any backward turning of the cam; but inorder to relieve these parts of strain and shock I provide a separatelocking mechanism, which is operated by the same motion of the rod asthat which actuates the switch.

The points of the movable rails B are connected. by a flat bar, F, whichis provided with two perforations, ff, and slides through a guide, D,fastened to one of the ties. In a tubular portion of the guide D is asliding bolt, F, arranged at right angles to the bar F. This bolt F isreciproeated by means of rod d bell-crank lever d, and rod d. It isobvious that it must not be thrown forward again until the rails B havecome to rest, and that this must be accomplished when the switch isshfie din either direction. In order to effect this result, I locate alever, b, so as to bein line with the rod 01 when the bolt F iswithdrawn, as shown in Fig. 1. It will be seen that any movement of thelever either way from this central position will exert a pull on the rodd and throw the bolt F forward into engagement with one of theperforations in the bar F". In order to move the lever b, I connect itwith the lever a by means ofa rod, b. The motion of lever a before itslug 0L engages the cam a will bring the lever 12 up toward its centralposition and withdraw the bolt F, leaving the rails free to be shiftedby the cam. While this is being effected the lever b will reach and passits central position, and the further excess of travel of the leverotwill carry the lever b far enough beyond said posit-ion to throw thebolt forward into its perforation f in the bar F,

which has already come to rest, when the motion of the earn a ceased.The same operation will ensue when the switch is shifted to the oppositeside. In connection with all these parts I employ a detector-bar. Thisdetectorbar F/ is arranged alongside one of the rails A, and is pivotedto the upper ends of the several short parallel links 6, the lower endsof which are pivoted to lugs or cars on the flange of the rail A. Theupper edge of the bar 1*." lies normally just below the top of the rail.A rod, E, connects the detector-bar with the lever a preferably with theextended rear end of said lever, as shown in Fig. 1. When the lever isthrown from one side to the other, the detector-bar E will be raised,carried lengthwise, and then lowered again, since the upper ends oflinks 6 describe arcs of small circles. When the detector-bar is downand a train passes over the switch, the wheels of the train prevent thedetector-bar from rising, and consequently prevent the switch from beingshifted, either accidentally or intentionally, 'until the trainhaspassed.

In order that the engineer of an approaching train may be apprised ofthe condition of the switch,l erect at any suitable spot a signalpost,G, provided with two signaling devices, H I, one for the main track andone for the siding. These may be semaphore-blades, as shown,or numbereddisks, or any suitable devices for attracting attention. Upon a stud, g,projecting from the post G, are j onrnaled two arms, L M, and a "lever,K, the latter being between the two arms, as shown in Fig. 13. The endof the arm L is connected by a rod, H, with thesignaling device H, andthe arm M is similarly connected with the other signaling device, I, bya red, I, the arrangement being such that when the arm is raised thesignaling device will be brought to safety, but if the arm is allowed tofall the signal will indicate danger.

The lever K is provided with two laterallyprojecting lugs, kit. to theright, as shown in Figs. 3 and 6, the lug comes in contact with the armL and raises it, bringing the signal H to safety and leaving the otherat danger. When the lever is moved to the left, as in Figs. 5 and 8, thesignal Iis brought to safety and signal H remains at danger. When thelever hangs vertically, as in Figs. 4 and 7, both signals stand atdanger. In this position the space between the arms L and M is such thatthe lever K must swing through a certain are before either of the lugsK, K will strike its respective arm, so that by changing the signalsfrom the position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 5 they will fora short time both stand at danger, as shown in Fig. 4.

In order to swing the lever K, it is connected by means of rod 0,bell-crankleyer c, and rod 12 or other equivalent means, with lever b ora, as may be most convenient. The parts are so arranged and proportionedthat when lever a begins to move and the bolt F begins to be withdrawnthe lever K commences to lower the arm which it has been holding up, andthe corresponding signaling device starts toward aposition toindicatedanger. By the time the lug a in the lever a engages with the cam a toshift the switch the bolt F has been withdrawn from perforation fin barF, and the signaling devices are both standing at dan ger, as in Fig. 4.While the earn a is shifting the switch the lever K is swinging acrosstoward the other arm, both signals remaining at danger, and when theswitch closes and the lug a leaves the notch the lever K strikes thisother arm and brings down to safety When thelever is swung- IIO - K L Malso act in the capacity of a compensating device, in that they allow anexcess of movement of the rod without any material change in therelative position of the semaphore-blades.

It should be remarked that the detector-bar is raised nearly to itshighest point before the cam a is acted upon, and that in the descentthe bell-crank lever at,

its weight assists in moving the various parts of the mechanism.

It is obvious that the several parts of this switch and signalmechanism-viz.,the switchoperating movement, the locking mechanism, thedetector-bar, and the signaling devicesmay be used separately,or incombination with other similar apparatus for accomplishing their object.Furthermore, the precise arrangement of lever and connection shown inthe drawings may be more or less varied without departing from thespirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire tp secureby Letters Patent, 1s-

1. The combination, with the rails B, of a pivoted double-faced cam, a,located adjacent to the switch, the lever at, having the lug a to engagewith a notch in said cam to turn it in either direction from a centralposition, and to lock the said cam when so turned, the said cam beingpivoted between the pivot of said lever and its lug, a rod, a, connectedwith said lever to move the same, and a switch-bar, c pivoted to the camand connected with the rails B, whereby the rails will be moved when thecam is turned, substantially as described.

2. In a switch mechanism, the combination, with the switch-bar, of thedouble-faced pivoted cam a, the lever a having'at one end a lug, a, toengage with said can], the other end of said lever being connected byrod E with the detector-bar E, whereby the detectorbar will be liftednearly to its highest point before the cam is actuated to move theswitch.

8. The combination,with the switch having the perforated locking-bar F,of the compensating locking-movement a a a w, the rod 6, lever b, and abolt, F, actuated to engage with the locking-bar by a movement of leverb in either direction from a central position.

4. The combination, with a switch having a perforated lockingbar, F, ofthe compensating locking-movement a a c a, the rod 1), the lever Z), therod cl, connected with said lever 1), so as to lie substantially in linetherewith when the lever is in its central position, rod d, and bolt F,whereby the bolt will be thrown forward by a movement of lever b eitherway from a central position.

5. The combination, with a switch having a perforated lockingbar, F, ofa bolt, F, rod (1 bell-crank lever (2, rod (1, and lever b, said rod andlever lying substantially in the same line when the lever is in itscentral position, mechanism for operating the switch, and connectionbetween said mechanism and the lever 19, whereby said lever will bemoved from a point at one side of its central position to a a point onthe other side whenever the switch is operated, whereby the bolt F willbe first withdrawn and then thrown forward again as the switch isoperated.

6. The combination, in a switch mechanism, of the compensatinglocking-movement a aa a, the locking mechanism 1), b, d, (2, (1 F, andF, and the detector-bar E, and rod E, therod b, a two-bladed semaphore,and intermediate mechanism actuated by said rod and only operative tochange the position of the blades before and after the switch isshifted.

7. In aswitch mechanism, the combination, with the rod a, cam a, andlever a of a looking mechanism and detectorbar operated simultaneouslywith said lever a a signalpost, G, carrying two semaphore-blades, H I,alever, K, having the projecting lugs is k, the arms L M, pivotedconcentrically with lever K, rods H 1, connecting the blades H I withthe arms L M, and connection between the lever K and the lever (1 8. Thecombination, with a switch, of the rod a, cam a, and lever a, asignal-post, a lever, K, pivoted thereto and provided with lugs 7c it,suitable connection between lever K and the lever a two arms, L M,pivoted concentrically with lever K, signaling devices H I, rods H I, sothat when the lever a is first moved both signaling devices will come todanger and remain there until the lever a has shifted the switch, whenthe further movement of the lever will throw down one of the signalingdevices.

9. In a switch mechanism, the combination, with means for shifting theswitch, of a single actuating-rod, a, connected with a compensatingdevice allowing an excess of movement in certain parts, a lockingmechanism, a detector-bar, and a pair'of semaphore-blades connected withsaid parts, and an intermediate mechanism between said semaphorebladesand the operating parts aforesaid, whereby the blades will be moved onlyeither before or after the switch has been shifted, the parts being soarranged and connected that a single movement of the actuating-rod awill operate all the several elements of the combination, substantiallyas shown and de scribed.

10. In a switch mechan-ism,the combination, with a single actuating-rod,a, and its co-opcrating parts, of the movable rails and a pair ofsignaling devices, with compensatinglocking device between saidoperating parts and rails, and another compensating device between saidoperating parts and said signaling devices, the whole combined andarranged in' such a manner that when the rails are being moved thesignals will remain at rest in a position to indicate danger, and willnot move to safety until after the rails have been moved and locked, theparts being so arranged and connected that a single movement of theactuating-rod a will operate the several elements of the combination,substantially as shown and described.

11. The combination, with the movable rails of a switch. of acompensating lockingmoveinent, aa a a, a locking mechanism, 1) b d d FF, a detector-bar, E, and rod E, rod 12 connected with a compensatingdevice,KLM, and signaling devices H I, the whole so ar-

